Methods for the synthesis of large numbers of diverse compounds which can be screened for various possible physiological or other activities are of interest (Ellman, et. al., Chem. Rev., 96, 555-600 (1996)). Synthesis techniques have been developed in which individual units are sequentially added to produce all or a substantial number of the possible compounds which can result from all the different choices possible at each sequential stage of the synthesis. For these techniques to be successful, it is necessary for the compounds to be amenable to methods by which one can determine the structure of the compounds so made. Examples of such techniques include, the technique of Brenner and Lerner [PNAS USA, 81, 5381-83 (1992) and WO 93/20242], according to which oligonucleotides are produced in parallel with, and are chemically linked as genetic tags, to oligopeptides as the compounds of interest. WO 93/06121 teaches methods for the particles-based synthesis of random oligomers wherein identification tags on the particles are used to facilitate identification of the oligomer sequence synthesized. Ohlmeyer, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 90, 10922-10926 (December 1993), discloses a detachable tagging system.